Airborne Temperature Survey of Harrison Bay

During 10 August 1973 while conducting an oceanographic program in deep waters off the North Slope of Alaska, an opportunity arose to make an airborne radiation thermometer (ART) flight to map the surface water temperature of Harrison Bay .... Little is known about the oceanography of the Bay. Yet this zone may well come under considerable, if not great, environmental stresses stemming from present localization of resource development and exploitation. This paper presents a summary of the results of the low-altitude ART flight. ... A Barnes Engineering Company PRT-5, 9.5-11.5 µ Infrared Radiometer with a field of view of 2 degrees was used .... The temperature survey was carried out using 2 helicopters ... flying a grid pattern and measuring the surface temperature along the flight track. The flight was conducted at a nominal altitude of 46 metres, with a flight speed of 150 km/hr. Navigation was done by visual contact with the coast and by radar tracking from the Glacier. Clear, cloud-free conditions existed in the entire study area during the survey. Continuous winds (>3.0 m/sec) mixed the surface waters so that the radiometer measurements are representative of bulk temperature rather than the skin temperature of the water. The ART equipment was calibrated before, during, and after the flight. ... Contours of the surface-water temperature distribution of Harrison Bay are presented .... Two major features are exhibited: the lack of large river effluent plumes; and the penetration of relatively cold water from the west into Harrison Bay. The weak packing of isotherms (4° to 8°C) near the Colville River delta indicates that river runoff was very low in early August and freshwater influence was restricted to near the shore. This was expected. ... the Colville River has a total annual discharge of 16 × 10**9 m³ of which 80 per cent occurs the first twenty days of June. During the rest of the summer, river flow is very low. In the second feature ... the 3°C isotherm represented the boundary of the cold water and was accompanied by a sharp colour separation: offshore of the isotherm the water was green whereas inshore the water was brown. It is also interesting to note that the 3°C isotherm paralleled the 5.5 metre isobath in Harrison Bay. Along the North Slope coast, surface currents depend largely on local winds, are highly variable (0 to 60 cm/sec), and may even reverse direction .... The wind is generally from the east during the summer and rarely exceeds 10 m/sec. However, from 6 to 11 August 1973, the wind direction was from the west-southwest at an average of 4 m/sec. This was sufficient to cause the nearshore waters to flow easterly, pushing the colder coastal waters into Harrison Bay. Assuming steady state conditions the magnitude of the wind-driven cold-water current was 12 cm/sec. The pocket of <4°C water near Cape Halkett ... may represent an eddy. The surface water temperature distribution of Harrison Bay observed 10 August 1973 is probably unique in that the winds were blowing from the west causing the presence of a tongue of cold water to occur which covered a great part of the bay. However, the data should add to our sparse understanding of the area and point out the need for continued study

Airborne Asian Dust: Case Study of Long-Range Transport and Implications for the Detection of Volcanic Ash

The transport of fine-grained Asian dust from its source (e.g., the Gobi Desert, Mongolia) to North America is a common springtime phenomenon. Because of its chemical composition (silicon, iron, aluminum, and calcium) and its particle size distribution (mean aerodynamic diameter 2-4 mum), Asian dust produces a negative signal in the split-window T-4 - T-5 algorithm, as does airborne volcanic ash. The split-window algorithm is commonly used by operational volcanic ash advisory centers. Thus, it is important to find ways to differentiate between airborne Asian dust and airborne volcanic ash. Use of Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer aerosol and sulfur dioxide indices, in conjunction with the split-window method, can mitigate the possibility of a false airborne volcanic ash alarm. Asian dust also is important for other reasons. Thus, meteorological agencies should monitor it because 1) it can be transported thousands of kilometers from its source region and thus is of global interest (e.g., effects on radiative forcing) and 2) fine-grain particles pose a potentially serious public health hazard

Hydrologic Scales, Cloud Variability, Remote Sensing, and Models: Implications for Forecasting Snowmelt and Streamflow

Accurate prediction of available water supply from snowmelt is needed if the myriad of human, environmental, agricultural, and industrial demands for water are to be satisfied, especially given legislatively imposed conditions on its allocation. Robust retrievals of hydrologic basin model variables (e.g., insolation or areal extent of snow cover) provide several advantages over the current operational use of either point measurements or parameter-izations to help to meet this requirement. Insolation can be provided at hourly time scales (or better if needed during rapid melt events associated with flooding) and at 1-km spatial resolution. These satellite-based retrievals incorporate the effects of highly variable (both in space and time) and unpredictable cloud cover on estimates of insolation. The insolation estimates are further adjusted for the effects of basin topography using a high-resolution digital elevation model prior to model input. Simulations of two Sierra Nevada rivers in the snowmelt seasons of 1998 and 1999 indicate that even the simplest improvements in modeled insolation can improve snowmelt simulations, with 10%–20 % reductions in root-mean-square errors. Direct retrieval of the areal extent of snow cover may mitigate the need to rely entirely on internal calculations of this variable, a reliance that can yield large errors that are difficult to correct until long after the season is complete and that often leads to persistent underestimates or overestimates of the volumes of the water to operational reservoirs. Agencie

Scottish theme towns: have new identities enhanced development?

Three small towns in southwest Scotland have recently been branded as distinct theme towns, based on books, artists and food. This is an attempt to make them more attractive to visitors and thereby improve their economy. The objective of this research is to establish whether the new identities possessed by the towns have enhanced their development. It is argued, using data reviewing the past decade, that they have all developed, albeit at different rates, in terms of the economy and culture. Moreover, it is maintained that social capital has been enhanced and is a factor whose importance has been under-appreciated by planners and observers of this type of process. The relevance of the new identity to the pre-branding identity is also seen as a factor in successful development and ideas of authenticity and heritage are brought to bear on the relationship

Ecological implications of a flower size/number trade-off in tropical forest trees

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Essential versus accessory aspects of cell death: recommendations of the NCCD 2015

Cells exposed to extreme physicochemical or mechanical stimuli die in an uncontrollable manner, as a result of their immediate structural breakdown. Such an unavoidable variant of cellular demise is generally referred to as ‘accidental cell death’ (ACD). In most settings, however, cell death is initiated by a genetically encoded apparatus, correlating with the fact that its course can be altered by pharmacologic or genetic interventions. ‘Regulated cell death’ (RCD) can occur as part of physiologic programs or can be activated once adaptive responses to perturbations of the extracellular or intracellular microenvironment fail. The biochemical phenomena that accompany RCD may be harnessed to classify it into a few subtypes, which often (but not always) exhibit stereotyped morphologic features. Nonetheless, efficiently inhibiting the processes that are commonly thought to cause RCD, such as the activation of executioner caspases in the course of apoptosis, does not exert true cytoprotective effects in the mammalian system, but simply alters the kinetics of cellular demise as it shifts its morphologic and biochemical correlates. Conversely, bona fide cytoprotection can be achieved by inhibiting the transduction of lethal signals in the early phases of the process, when adaptive responses are still operational. Thus, the mechanisms that truly execute RCD may be less understood, less inhibitable and perhaps more homogeneous than previously thought. Here, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death formulates a set of recommendations to help scientists and researchers to discriminate between essential and accessory aspects of cell death

Conceptualising spirituality for medical research and health service provision

The need to take account of spirituality in research and health services provision is assuming ever greater importance. However the field has long been hampered by a lack of conceptual clarity about the nature of spirituality itself. We do not agree with the sceptical claim that it is impossible to conceptualise spirituality within a scientific paradigm. Our aims are to 1) provide a brief over-view of critical thinking that might form the basis for a useful definition of spirituality for research and clinical work and 2) demystify the language of spirituality for clinical practice and research

Effect of Population, Collection Year, After-Ripening and Incubation Condition on Seed Germination of \u3cem\u3eStipa bungeana\u3c/em\u3e

Knowledge of the germination behavior of different populations of a species can be useful in the selection of appropriate seed sources for restoration. The aim of this study was to test the effect of seed population, collection year, after-ripening and incubation conditions on seed dormancy and germination of Stipa bungeana, a perennial grass used for revegetation of degraded grasslands on the Loess Plateau, China. Fresh S. bungeana seeds were collected from eight locally-adapted populations in 2015 and 2016. Dormancy and germination characteristics of fresh and 6-month-old dry-stored seeds were determined by incubating them over a range of alternating temperature regimes in light. Effect of water stress on germination was tested for fresh and 6-month-old dry-stored seeds. Seed dormancy and germination of S. bungeana differed with population and collection year. Six months of dry storage broke seed dormancy, broadened the temperature range for germination and increased among-population differences in germination percentage. The rank order of germination was not consistent in all germination tests, and it varied among populations. Thus, studies on comparing seed dormancy and germination among populations must consider year of collection, seed dormancy states and germination test conditions when selecting seeds for grassland restoration and management

Porphyromonas gingivalis gingipains cause defective macrophage migration towards apoptotic cells and inhibit phagocytosis of primary apoptotic neutrophils:gingipains, apoptotic cell removal & inflammation

Periodontal disease is a prevalent chronic inflammatory condition characterised by an aberrant host response to a pathogenic plaque biofilm resulting in local tissue damage and frustrated healing that can result in tooth loss. Cysteine proteases (gingipains) from the key periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis have been implicated in periodontal disease pathogenesis by inhibiting inflammation resolution and are linked with systemic chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Efficient clearance of apoptotic cells is essential for the resolution of inflammation and tissue restoration. Here we sought to characterise the innate immune clearance of apoptotic cells and its modulation by gingipains. We examined the capacity of gingipain-treated macrophages to migrate towards and phagocytose apoptotic cells. Lysine gingipain treatment of macrophages impaired macrophage migration towards apoptotic neutrophils. Furthermore, lysine gingipain treatment reduced surface expression levels of CD14, a key macrophage receptor for apoptotic cells, which resulted in reduced macrophage interactions with apoptotic cells. Additionally, whilst apoptotic cells and their derived secretome were shown to inhibit TNF-α induced expression by P.gingivalis LPS, we demonstrated that gingipain preparations induced a rapid inflammatory response in macrophages that was resistant to the anti-inflammatory effects of apoptotic cells or their secretome. Taken together these data indicate that P.gingivalis may promote the chronic inflammation seen in periodontal disease patients by multiple mechanisms including rapid, potent gingipain-mediated inflammation coupled with receptor cleavage leading to defective clearance of apoptotic cells and reduced anti-inflammatory responses. Thus gingipains represent a potential therapeutic target for intervention in the management of chronic periodontal disease